What Lies Beneath

Before: Fat "Ceiling"Photograph courtesy Thames WaterFat thickly coats a Thames Water-administered sewer in Reading (map), U.K., in May 2009. The fat "ceiling" is the result of years of what the company calls sewer abuse—the pouring of food waste down sinks and the flushing of items other than toilet paper and human waste. Once in the sewers, leftover meat fat gets mixed in with items like makeup wipes, diapers,...

More Than Just a Pretty Picture

 Honduran “Desert”Photograph by Bradley E. CliftThis Honduran “desert” was pasture and farmland before Hurricane Mitch arrived in November 1998. Torrential rains unleashed the full fury of a flooded Choluteca River, which washed away entire villages, threw trees like matchsticks, and transported enough sand from the mountains to create an artificial desert. The deadly storm killed thousands of people and destroyed...

Living Life Till It's Last Breath

For the past months I have been letting routine get in the way of learning and growing and straining my potential in the direction of my growth and goals - as so often we allow to happen in our lives. A turn of events personally has made me pause to reassess how I have wanted to live my life and whether I am following through in pursuing this direction. In some regards it feels as though I became distracted by something along the way and wrapped myself up in it for too long - only to find that when I looked up I, dissapointedly,...

The Earth and Me

Today, the 22 April, is the official Earth Day 2010 Campaign - forty years after the first Earth Day. 40 years on I am not too sure we have accomplished much - possibly have caused more destruction within that time than anything else. Awareness has definitely increased with regards to Green Issues but action still seems to be lagging behind. In light of recent events (the eruption of Iceland's volcano, earthquakes in...

Getting from where you are to where you want to be

So, I'm reading Jack Canfield's The Success Principles (well, actually started last year but have tackled it with some vigour as a new year dawns!) which is really all about setting goals and taking the right steps to achieving them. And in amongst all of this goal-setting there is one goal, one huge, all important goal that needs to be made, what he terms the "breakthrough goal" - and what I have called the Big Hairy...